The popular decimation of India's democracyPolice stand near a display of Narendra Modi, India's prime minister, during a campaign rally in Mumbai. Yet Mr Modi has the backing of educated, urban, aspirational youth. These defections contribute to a decline in reported political corruption, but the actual extent of the problem is another story. By blocking investigations of questionable business deals involving BJP leaders, the government effectively grants those it favours a kind of "sovereign guarantee" of impunity. By lending credence to BJP hype, Western business leaders, politicians, and media have become complicit in the hollowing out of India's democracy.
